Singin in d rain..

Singin in d rain..

Still rubbing my eyes,started walking towards the window,pulling the window panes open,stretched my hands towards the open sky,trying to embrace the cool breeze,basking in the warmth of sunlight,that immense pleasure,a smile on my lips,and wishing myself a  good morning,indeed made the morning a perfect one..

A new gal in the city,hmm,have been to other places too or rather countries,but somehow coud’nt figure out why am i  having this strange and weird excitement,a spring in my step,a smile on my lips,something alike my childhood days right from the moment I had stepped in this city!

Having taken the instructions from the caretaker about the tea bag chai a day before,went into kitchen to make my cuppa chai,without which however perfect a morning remains incomplete!Its a different story that however perfect a story is it will have its flaws,in my case I dint have the day’s newspaper to complete the picture perfect morning!pulled out a chair and started walking towards the sitout to do chai ki luft uthaana!I better put few words in praise of the view from my room,however,it was enough for me to get lost!The amazing skyline featuring the elevation of a church,the partial view of the tomb of a masjid, the clock tower fading away towards the oblivion with a bhajan as the background score!Wish I had my transistor(yes!i still have one!) to tune into!Nevertheless,steve jobs gave a substitute to this world!i turned it on,and bang on,the morning coud’nt have got better with ‘the boss’! “naam gum jaayega

Chehra yeh badal jaayega..!”

Was still trying to discern the strange emotions I was going through.It was excitement all right but also had a mixture of that strange underlying eerie feeling,for which I did not dare to find an answer.

So stood up and thought however average the view is from my room,still there were birds in the sky,cool breeze to blow my hair back and make way for that epic frame if I had to shoot this scene.In order to stop pondering over the fact whether or not will I be witnessing this beautiful sunrise ever again in this city.

It was funny the way I had decided to come to this city,knowing very little of the fact about my stand on the job nor the city!Every morning I used to wake up with a hope to run away from the known streets and familiar faces  for the fact that they had become way too familiar which was too unusual for me!

Always had these words ringing in my head,no matter where I went,what I did..

Gum hona chahti hu

Isi umeed se ki  

Phir se khud ko dhoondh saku

Har ek chehre main us ajnabi ko talaashti hu

Yeh pata hote huye bhi..

Travelled to all those places unknown to me to be existing in this city,woke up night after night,used to pick up my camera and went clicking all those things which I never thought will be clicking,as a matter of fact I shot humans,certainly had never thought will be doing like all sane people do!while riding to all those unknown places,amidst the ear banging noise,honking,people bragging about the quientessential metro characteristic traffic,skipping the last 3 seconds of the signal,looking into their respective watches,yet so oblivious of all these ramblings around me,being lost..

Like the centre metering(I know this is an epidemic with me,though I aint this great steve mcurry I just cant see the world without going behind the lens!) the scene I described looked all focused on me,blurring the entire foreground,background,noises,lights,flashes..!The evening wind blowing my hair,my shades protecting me from those flashy lights,and a calm,lost expression behind them!

Still I love my bohemian self and this ounce of being nomad that allows me to travel and travel for that is the only joy that is unparalleled!

Decided it was time to go about breaking those imaginary shackles and run around wildly in the direction unknown to destiny!I ran I came here to this city,though I would’nt say my dream city,but my dream city’s neighbor!Had thought will be writing this piece of shit looking at the amazing skyline against the backdrop of the vintage sunset amidst the shor in the city on the shores!

To survive in this city had to go bout earning so had thought of giving it a shot!hell yeah!broke all my previous records,dressed up all formals,a decievingly honest look,a night before had prepared for a quirky presentation of all the crap that I had acquired in these 5 years!It was time that I started towards my destination,a cool 2.5 hrs ahead of the scheduled meeting.With my visibly not so chaste Marathi,I did manage to reach the destination.All I had in mind was to grab that job,not even expecting any magical lines such as ‘I’l make u an offer u cant refuse!’,no it would be suicidal to dream to that extent.But since I am the protagonist of this saga,I was to be written a winner all over.

Just managed to barely hide my excitement and stepped out of the studio,called up people who would all be ears for what I say on the other end.

It started raining,with not even a hint as to where I was heading started walking,took a left straight down the road,as usual(this as usual cause I write about a chaiwala I would have found effortlessly in all those cities!) found a chaiwala,standing under the tarpaulin extension of the 3 sqm space ordered for a chai and in somewhile I started sipping the smoking hot sugary chai,gazing at the street,people running helter skelter searching for that chath,the chaiwala besides me squatting and just immersed enough in his routine of pouring the milk from the container to the ‘gilas’ yet all ears to the convo between the man in a watchmen uniform and a constable!still I could’nt discern the fact that despite all these hussle around me I was being oblivious to the surroundings,lost in my own weird world pondering over the fact that I had a great chance to stay in this city,I had a great chance to escape  familiarity!

Paid a shocking bill of rs.4 for the chai,pulled out my headphones,and started walking under the large black umbrella,lost in iktara..

Reaching my room was a more tedious task than my folks had thought of me reaching this city!as I said I am the protagonist,I ought be the winner,found way oops ways,familiarized myself with few lines of Marathi,roamed around the same square several times everytime thinking the city has too many similar squares,acquainted myself with the petrol rates,local fm,the upcoming civic elections,saw a huge bappa and also that dandekar was a Marathi name I guess last name!

It was still sometime before the sun started setting,knowing I dint have anything worthy to spend my time sitting in my room,decided to take a stroll,another reason being that I had just realized that I was more than hungry!as I said,protagonist,oh nothing but sheer luck,that my room was situated in the central part of the city,or in my terms,cbd.on one side was the shopaholic crowd,in the M.G.Road,wow every city in india no matter how small or large it is,it will have one m.g.road!on the other hand or the other corner started those innumerable unending Peths!by now even you should have guessed it the protagonist is the quintessential crazy person!took the route to peths,oh how many bazaars,if I were to loot this city,I would get all the revenue fromhere(please writing such a line should’nt put me behind bars!).i just felt that I had done time travel and was walking through the streets of a different era!Or even better way of describing the streets I was walking through,was like I had walked into the sets of peshwas,an old show that I used watch as a kid!

All I could think of at that moment was my hands itching to hold my camera,which like a wise soul had left in my room owing to the fantastic weather!just to shoot this one street wanted to come to this city!a foggy morning,sleeping city,endearing silence and framing that in a monochrome!as I had mentioned earlier I have this epidemic to go behind my 3^rd eye!

Like any native ordered for a plate of pohe,jalebi and I knw this ‘and’ will raise brows,knowing me,but had to savour a hot vada pav!continued taking a stroll and cheking out the wooden columns all slowly discerning to be part of the the city’s silhouette.Finally I came to an end,and had to decide where to head next.took the nearest shortcut possible after a series of enquiries(!!i would say a double exclamation!)

The heavens were mighty pleased after I did the honours of having stepped into this city,it did shower again,oh it was way too perfect for me to be walking on the median,in the rains under the umbrella,amidst the night bling,flashes of the vehicles in the shoppers paradise where people hardly bother to look around other than the wares!

The next morning standing in my room recallin all those way too sane things I did from the moment I stepped into the city had me laugh to hearts content!realised it was time for one more cuppa chai for I still had 4 and a half hours to reach the station to get back to familiarity before which wanted to get lost as much as possible!

Finally it was time to bid a temporary(I still was and am under the impression it was temporary!) adieu to this city that I fell in love with,leaving the familiarity behind,far behind!

Ironically the song that my pod was playing was,quite pleasant for the weather,my mood and the mad hustle of the station,meri duniya hai tujhme kahin..!for the way I smiled people thought I was way more than crazy!

Somewhere amidst my journey towards this back to familiarity mode standing near my bogey's door,music on,through those earphones,cool breeze,an evening sky,wanted to leave my hands sailing free like those strands of hair no matter how hard you try to keep them together tightly with a band,it still blows free,kiss the beautiful evening sky,embrace the few remaining bits of those things which are far from familiar..!

This city will remain this forever,like me and this unknown familiarity!A walk in the rain that was free from the sane thinking of running for a shelter,looking at your watch,cursing for leaving the umbrella behind but the kind of  full blown downpour cats-and-dogs walking in the rain until you’re practically dripping droplets from your hair with your clothes tight fit kind of walk in the rain and smile at their dance?

That was the best part about this unfamiliar city,for after sometime walking in those rains I just folded my jacket,tucked it into my bag,grabbed my hairband and tied my hair into a ponytail!
Clothes drenched. Hair dripping wet. Eyes are staring. But i kept walking. Not hurrying, but instead slowing down. I sneezed and shivered from the cold.

But in the end, all i could think of was..

Good I am still lost..